Staff Work - OTA
Things were slow between missions. With nothing to do, Gambit quickly got bored with things. He did some card tossing, his usual workout routine and then a break for lunch. After that, though, the day slowed down. He hoped there would be a mission soon, otherwise he was going to start breaking into places again just for something to do. He thought the brig might be a good challenge. Or the kitchens again. He wasn’t there yet.
So, after lunch he went outside with his bo staff. The weather was steadily heading into spring and while it was still cloudy and gray most of the time he could feel the weather was changing. As a good ol’ Louisiana boy this was a good thing. He was well and truly fed up with the cold. He needed heavy humidity and thick heat. Or a beautiful girl to distract him. That wasn’t going so well. He hadn’t been able to charm any girl into his bed. Yet.
That wasn’t what he was out here for though. He spun his staff in his hand and got to work. He had first picked up a staff as a joke, goofing around with the other orphan kids in the Guild. He had real talent with it, even back then. The Guild had made him train in it, along with the cards and the breaking and entering, and now something but a staff felt good in his hands. Using it was as natural as the cards and his mutant power.
He started with strikes, quick jabs and hits. He didn’t even imagine an opponent, working mostly on muscle memory and long years of practice. He knew just how to twist the staff to get a hit on someone’s knuckles or how to swing it in a wide arch to keep someone back. He liked that even when there was that one moment when the staff wasn’t completely under his control, he knew it was just a few seconds and he’d have control again.
After strikes it was spins. He whipped the staff around until it hummed through the air from the speed. He could feel the breeze it made when it got close enough to his head. In many ways the staff made him feel more powerful than his gift. It was something he learned, something he mastered. It wasn’t a fluke, it was something he chose to be good at and worked hard at.
Really hard. When he finished the spins, he stopped to pull his shirt over his head. He was working up a pretty good sweat in spite of the little chilly weather. Picking up his staff again, he started to put it all together, spins, sweeps and strikes.
So, after lunch he went outside with his bo staff. The weather was steadily heading into spring and while it was still cloudy and gray most of the time he could feel the weather was changing. As a good ol’ Louisiana boy this was a good thing. He was well and truly fed up with the cold. He needed heavy humidity and thick heat. Or a beautiful girl to distract him. That wasn’t going so well. He hadn’t been able to charm any girl into his bed. Yet.
That wasn’t what he was out here for though. He spun his staff in his hand and got to work. He had first picked up a staff as a joke, goofing around with the other orphan kids in the Guild. He had real talent with it, even back then. The Guild had made him train in it, along with the cards and the breaking and entering, and now something but a staff felt good in his hands. Using it was as natural as the cards and his mutant power.
He started with strikes, quick jabs and hits. He didn’t even imagine an opponent, working mostly on muscle memory and long years of practice. He knew just how to twist the staff to get a hit on someone’s knuckles or how to swing it in a wide arch to keep someone back. He liked that even when there was that one moment when the staff wasn’t completely under his control, he knew it was just a few seconds and he’d have control again.
After strikes it was spins. He whipped the staff around until it hummed through the air from the speed. He could feel the breeze it made when it got close enough to his head. In many ways the staff made him feel more powerful than his gift. It was something he learned, something he mastered. It wasn’t a fluke, it was something he chose to be good at and worked hard at.
Really hard. When he finished the spins, he stopped to pull his shirt over his head. He was working up a pretty good sweat in spite of the little chilly weather. Picking up his staff again, he started to put it all together, spins, sweeps and strikes.